The Royal Navy still possesses considerable fire-power in her Surface Fleet. It's main ships are the three aircraft carriers and type 42 destroyers. In the past, the Royal Navy was mainly known for its powerful battleships, especially during the first half of the 20th century.

Initially dismissed as "Underhand" and "un-English" the submarines of the Royal Navy Submarine Service, the Silent Service has become the main striking arm of the Royal Navy. The battleships of the 21st Century the nuclear hunter-killer submarines of the Royal Navy are as potent an offensive force as she has ever possessed.

Holland class

A class

E class

T class

Amphion class

Oberon class

Valiant class

Churchill class

Trafalgar class

Astute class

With the retirement of the RAF's nuclear strike role the strategic missile boats of the Royal Navy has been the keeper of the United Kingdom's strategic deterrent.

With its pre-dominance at sea, for much of the 19th Century the Royal Navy faced very little in the way of ship to ship action, instead its sailors and gunners participated in land actions in Royal Navy Brigades, culminating in the Royal Naval Division that would fight in the trenches of the First World War.

The Royal Navy is currently being refreshed with new programs that will see it change from being primarily an anti-submarine Cold War force to one structured for expeditionary warfare. Key to this will be the new amphibious assault ships, the Queen Elizabeth II class aircraft carriers together with the escorts to protect them.